review

High performance at a reasonable cost, but can it ever be considered over the more popular manufacturers' offerings?
There's a pretty decent chance you've used a Huawei phone without even knowing it. A longtime seller of spec devices, Huawei has started to step into the competitive arena that is the high-end smartphone market. For 2012, Huawei offers this, the Ascend D Quad XL.
When the Ascend...

Despite its status as a global electronics giant, Sony remains on the periphery of the smartphone world, with a tiny share of the market outside its native Japan. In Europe, it’s struggled to make a dent in Samsung and Apple’s dominance. In the U.S., Sony Mobile’s market presence is barely measurable.
After a shaky start to 2012, Sony enters fall with an unusually thorough product refresh, led...

It's the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. On T-Mobile.
You're Samsung. You've survived the early years of Android. You've made it through the awkward teenage years, and the cries of #neveragain, and learned to (or at least learned to spend the money to) keep the updates flowing and the users happy. In the past year, the original Galaxy Note, and the newer Galaxy S3, have sold millions of units.
What do...

Newer. Better. Faster. Longer. It's the updated Motorola RAZR line.
When the original RAZR hit the market last summer, followed shortly after by the RAZR MAXX, a lot of people were eagerly awaiting a true flagship line from Motorola. And the devices were met with success, thanks to Verizon’s aggressive marketing and the MAXX's considerable battery advantage.
Shortly after its release, though,...

There's no doubt - LG's here. But will the Optimus G be here to stay?
When was the last time you were excited about an LG phone? It has been a while since the handset maker had both buzz and substance on its side; upon entering the Android market, LG lost a bit of its luster, and pitted against such fierce competition like Samsung and Apple, LG began its descent into the brink of obscurity....

The original Samsung Galaxy Note was never the likeliest candidate for a multi-million-selling Android device. Few expected it to succeed, and its inflated size and stylus input made it an easy target for ridicule. We were cautiously optimistic in our November 2011 review, but also skeptical as to its mass market potential. Yet somehow, in the ten months following its debut in late 2011, Samsung...

It's not every day that a phone makes you want to put on a suit and tie. And pants. That's one of the perks of this job -- we can review any phone, at any time, and any stage of undress we see fit. And same goes for the Sprint Motorola Photon Q, we suppose. It's a mix of features that business types have been clamoring for on sprint for some time now, with features that any aspiring Android nerd...

Sony has released more smartphones than ever before 2012, hoping that strength in numbers will help it overcome Android competition from the likes of Samsung and HTC. One important, but often overlooked area of any manufacturer’s line-up is the entry level -- it’s these devices which attract first-time smartphone users, giving them their first taste of the Android platform. We’re taking a look...

The Intel-Motorola partnership has been a long time coming. The two officially hooked up at CES 2012, where they committed to a “multi-year, multi-device agreement” to bring Intel-powered Moto phones to market. Ten months and a few leaks later, the first such device, the Motorola RAZR i, reaches European store shelves. It may not have been the bleeding-edge, multi-core, 4G behemoth that some --...

LG has forever been known as that "other Android manufacturer", relegated to fourth place behind Samsung, HTC, and Motorola in consumers' minds. With its recent lineup arriving on US shores, though, the Korean manufacturer is hoping the tides will turn. Not only is it lying in wait with its beastly Optimus G to steal the spotlight from competing flagships, LG is also venturing into niche...

We've spent the past day getting to know the RAZR i, Motorola's new Intel-powered smartphone. Externally, it may look like a re-badged Droid RAZR M, but the main differences lie on the inside. It's powered by a 2GHz Intel Atom CPU, which the manufacturer claims results in improved performance across the board, most notably in games and the built-in camera app. The RAZR i is also the first...

It’s been just over a year since Motorola took the wraps off of the Droid RAZR, the device the company was counting on to keep it competitive. And with an intense push by Verizon, the RAZR managed to hold its ground in 2012 against blockbuster competitors such as Samsung’s Galaxy line and HTC’s One series. And with its follow up RAZR Maxx, Motorola managed to finally break away from the pack...

Flip cases are becoming increasingly popular, as phone owners look for an easy way to protect both the front and back of their devices. Spigen's Ultra Flip Case is one of the latest to emerge for the Samsung Galaxy S3, offering a solution for S3 owners who want to protect their phone's back cover and screen without adding too much extra bulk.
The body of the case is similar to Spigen's Ultra...

Not every smartphone case has to be a heavy-duty, rubberized monster. Sometimes, you just want something slim and light to protect vulnerable areas of the phone, without adding too much extra bulk and weight. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S3, Spigen's Ultra Thin Air series of cases fits that bill.
Lightweight and constructed of polycarbonate, the Air Series case protects the edges and...

Traditional phone cases are all well and good, but sometimes you just want something that'll protect your device when it's in transit, or in a bag or pocket with other items. For that kind of protection, it's hard to beat a good old-fashioned leather pouch, such as SGP's Crumena pouch for the Samsung Galaxy S3.
This is a snug-fitting pouch for the Galaxy S3 (international and U.S. versions)...

So imagine you're a sweet little granny, who wears roller skates and can use a cane like some sort of geriatric ninja. Add in a chubby little thief, who seems to have one goal in life -- to steal your apples. No, this isn't some bizarre M. Night Shyamalan film, it's a great new game from Mediocre. The same folks who brought us Sprinkle now have a new title, and I predict it will be an instant...

I’ll start the review with what might come as a shocker to those that know me -- I love the Motorola Atrix HD. I love the way it feels, the way it runs, the changes Motorola has done with Ice Cream Sandwich in the non-Blur OS, and the overall design of the phone clicks with me. It’s not perfect, but then again, what phone ever released is? There's also the initial feel of the phone, which isn't...

Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 marries an ambitious pen input and user interface to hardware that's a little tough to digest, especially when you can get better for less.
In light of the recent ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and its ongoing litigation with Apple, it'd be hard to imagine that Samsung hasn't thought twice about its tablet strategy. Continually pushing out a revamped iteration of the...

Continuing our search for the perfect case for the Nexus 7, we're taking a look at the Amzer skin case. Seven inches of glass and electronics sitting around naked is a nightmare for many folks, and this go around we're looking at pure protection. But protective cases don't have to lack in the looks department, so I grabbed one of these premium silicone cases in hot pink to give a thorough ...

Contract-free and prepaid carriers are gaining in popularity. But when prepaid Android devices starting hitting those markets, they tended to be lower-tier phones. But recently we have seen plenty of great devices hitting various prepaid carriers, one of them being the HTC EVO Design 4G, which recently hit Boost Mobile.
Looking to get a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich in your hands, without breaking...